Strathclyde Business School alumnus Usman Ali has reached the finals of the Deloitte-sponsored Financial Services Rising Star of the Year Award 2009. The final will take place on September 23 at the Weston Link of the National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh in front of industry leaders. Usman, who studied on the MBM programme (2005-2006), now works as Systems and Support Manager for St Vincent Investments Ltd, an investment arm of Clydesdale Bank Property Division. He is just one of four finalists in the competition organised by The Chartered Institute of Bankers in Scotland (CIOBS).
At the semi-final stage on July 2 he was one of eight nominees who had to make a short presentation on their nomination and participate in an interview before a panel of judges. The final will see the four nominees presenting live before an invited audience on a theme chosen by CIOBS and Deloitte, relating to a statement by Bank of England governor Mervyn King: "If some banks are thought to be too big to fail, then they are too big."
There is a first prize of an overseas holiday for two for the winner as well the industry-wide recognition of the winner as a high potential individual, and there are additional prizes for the three runners-up.